A Chaplain's Journey From Tribe To Triumph
by U.S. Air Force Staff Sgt. Kristen Pittman May 12,
2021
"For I know the plans I have for you," declares the LORD, "plans
to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a
future." Jeremiah 29:11
For Chaplain (Maj.) Bitrus (“like
‘citrus’” he often jokes) Cobongs, head chaplain of the Air Force
Reserve’s 403rd Wing, his life’s journey from a small tribe in West
Africa to serving in the United States military serves as a
testament to the above adage.
Chaplain (Maj.) Bitrus Cobongs, head chaplain for the 403rd Wing at Keesler Air Force Base, Miss., sits on a pew in Keesler's Triangle Chapel
on April 11, 2021. Cobongs's life began over 6,000 miles away in Nigeria where his early aspirations consisted of being a youth minister, but through closed and opened doors, he ended up serving in the U.S. military. (U.S. Air Force photo by Staff Sgt. Kristen Pittman)
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Cobongs grew up in the northern region of Nigeria in the state of
Gombe as a member of the Tangale tribe, a majority Christian group
of about 300,000, surrounded by significantly larger Muslim tribes
like the Hausa and the Fulani.
In a mostly poor, agrarian
society, Cobongs’ father did
relatively well financially with his business repairing watches,
clocks, radios and other devices, and they even owned several
properties. That was--until his faith led him to give up the
business life and devote his time to becoming a pastor.
The
Cobongs family of eight at that time went from having a lot to
living in a one-bedroom mud house in a time where electricity and
running water were not commonplace and even basic infrastructure
like roads was scarce.
His father’s new profession required a
lot of moving around while resulting in minimal, sometimes if any,
salary.
“When my dad became a pastor we would move around a
lot and that made it hard to make friends,” said Cobongs. “I can
even remember one time where we left one village and the school in
the next village had different color uniforms, and we couldn’t
afford new ones, so I had to walk to the other village for school,
and in another village we went to school under a tree and just moved
with the shade as the sun moved across the sky.”
Despite all
of the moving around and five different schools in six years,
Cobongs completed primary school and tested for high school. The way
it worked there was the students would take the Universal Primary
Examination and a passing score would grant them eligibility to
attend high school. A higher test score along with a favorable
interview would allow a student to attend a boarding school where
housing, meals, transportation, even uniforms were provided.
Cobongs scored well enough, completed the required interview and was
accepted into boarding school, which was a blessing for his family
considering that at this point his parents had seven mouths to feed,
not including their own.
“While I was away with my parents in
another village, my result had come out,” he said, “and by the time
we got back, they had sold my name to another family whose son
didn’t pass the exam.”
His father’s reaction was passive,
suggesting that perhaps this was not the door God wanted to open for
him, but his mother had other ideas and sent him to the school
anyway in hopes that he could clear the situation up and be
admitted. The attempt was futile, though, as the principal said
there was nothing that could be done.
Usually when someone
takes a gap year from education, it’s between high school and
university, but Cobongs, at the age of 12, had no choice but to wait
the school year out and take the test again.
“At this point I
was in another region, so there was no boarding school, and I had to
go to a day school 150 kilometers away,” he explained. “I had to
learn to cook. I had to find a place to live. All of this, and I was
just 13.”
Into his third year of the day school, Cobongs said
his parents had been observing him and noticed his lack of
enthusiasm for school. While home on holiday, he said his parents
proposed the idea of going to a Bible College to him. This meant his
parents would have to pay for his schooling, a far cry from the
offerings of the boarding school he was originally supposed to
attend, but they said they were willing to try, a sacrifice he
acknowledges and appreciates.
“Even though the school year
had already started I packed my sleeping material, my camping stove,
and clothes and walked the four miles to catch public transportation
to the Bible College,” said Cobongs. “But since the school was in
the mountains, when I got dropped off there were another five miles
to go. I didn’t know what to do, so I sat under a tree by the road
and hoped someone would drive by and after a while, sure enough, a
teacher drove by going back to the school,”
When he finally
made it, he had to test again and do another interview to get in.
After doing well with both, the school’s registrar said he’d have to
go home and come back in January when the next semester started.
Exasperated after having traveled so far, Cobongs, with much
determination, explained that he had brought all of his belongings
and already had them in the dormitory and he was ready to go to
class, so they allowed him to start.
Bible College served as
both high school and undergraduate studies for Cobongs, and he
finished highly ranked among the others despite being one of the
youngest in the school.
At this point in his life he had no
intentions or really even thoughts of the possibility of one day
going to America. He had aspirations to be a youth minister among
his tribe, so his next step was a master of divinity degree.
For this he traveled to Kenya to attend the International School of
Theology where he said he often had to skip meals in order to afford
living there.
Upon completing his masters of divinity,
Cobongs wanted to continue his education, but he’d have to go to
America or Europe to pursue anything higher, so he applied to
seminaries in Chicago and Dallas.
“I was accepted into the
Dallas Theological Seminary, and I couldn’t believe it! They were
giving me a scholarship to go to school in America,” he said.
But eerily, like when he was accepted to boarding school,
Cobongs faced a serious road block.
“When I went to my VISA
interview, they denied me,” he said. “The guy was so mean! He just
looked at me and said, ‘Denied,’ and made a comment about my
application saying that I was going to America for a master’s degree
when I already had one master’s degree. It was like he didn’t trust
me even though I had the letter of admission.”
He could have
easily just given up, but like the time he trekked to the boarding
school to try and gain admission, he went again to try and obtain
his VISA, and this time he had a favorable outcome.
“Once I
had been granted my VISA, people from the local churches raised
money for me because I didn’t even have enough for a ticket to
America,” he said. “I landed in Dallas with $20.”
It was
during his time in Dallas that the 9/11 terrorist attacks happened.
Following the attacks there were a lot of misconceptions and tension
surrounding the Islamic faith, so there was a need for educating
Americans.
Having grown up where he did, he had plenty of
knowledge and experience with people of Islam. Considering this,
Cobongs was called upon to speak to a congregation in Missouri about
the differences between Islam and the extremist iteration displayed
in the terrorist attacks and organizations like Al Qaeda.
The
circumstances leading up to his being there in Missouri were
unfortunate to say the least, but it was there that Cobongs met the
woman he would marry and share four children with.
At this
point in his life he was still very much determined to be a youth
minister back in Nigeria once he was finished with his education,
and his wife was on board with the idea of uprooting herself from
her home and going back with him, but there was an opportunity he
felt compelled to take.
Many people, whether they admit it or
not, join the military for a reason, in addition to serving, that
benefits themselves whether it’s education or healthcare or travel
opportunities, etc, but Cobongs joined out of gratitude.
“I
had a friend who was a Chaplain in the Army and that’s what got me
interested, and then someone else, who was a loadmaster in the Air
Force, said I should go Air Force,” he said. “America had given me
so much, and I just felt like becoming a Chaplain was the least I
could do.”
He and his wife still held onto the hope of going
back to his home and sharing their faith with people whose access to
Christianity is more limited, so he looked into joining the Air
Force Reserve. Those he spoke to assured him it was possible for him
to split his time between Africa and his military obligations, but
because of his wife’s nationality, they would have to do that as
missionaries.
“After talking to a few people, I joined the
Reserve and we started looking into missionary organizations in
Africa,” he said, “but each one said the same thing: that because I
was associated with the U.S. military I was a risk, and they
couldn’t accept our applications.”
While the United States
military was nowhere near part of his original plan, life had its
own way of making it up to him. Out of all of the assignments he
could have been sent to, Cobongs had the opportunity to minister to
the youth of the Air Force with two active duty tours at Basic
Military Training at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and the Air
Force Academy in Colorado.
Whether one believes it’s God,
fate, the cosmos or whatever, life has not gone according to plan
for Cobongs, but nobody would know it when talking to him in his
current positions as head chaplain here and a leadership instructor
at Maxwell Air Force Base in Montgomery, Alabama.
Tech. Sgt.
Amanda Cernicek knows firsthand about Cobongs’ surprisingly enduring
positive and hopeful attitude having worked with him as a religious
affairs specialist for a year and a half.
“His faith is very
important to him,” she said, “but he makes sure to approach people
with the understanding that we’re all spiritual beings, and we’re
all just trying to express that in the best way that we individually
see fit. Whatever way that is that someone does that, as long as
it’s not hurting themselves or someone else, he wants people to be
able to do that.”
She said he has taught her so much in the
short time she’s known him, but it’s his story alone that really
puts things into perspective.
“He has experienced so much and
to think of where he came from and things he went through, it really
makes me think twice when I start to complain about something in my
life,” she said.
That’s not to say someone else’s stressors
or problems are not valid, she suggested. His story and trials are
just a way to help someone see the bigger picture and that there’s
always a way through whatever someone is going through.
Cobongs, plans to stay in the military as long as he can, using his
experience and knowledge to help guide Airmen and promote the
acceptance of people from all walks of life.
“I’ve seen in so
many ways that having diverse voices and ideas and cultures does
help us to be better, he said. “When you’re able to listen and share
stories and ideas, it makes us a better Air Force.”
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